High angle view of a team of united businesspeople standing with their hands together in a huddle in the lobby of a modern office building

The Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management and the Facility Management Association of Australia (FMA) will join forces in the pursuit of workplace and facilities management excellence the parties announced today.

The trans-continental alliance will connect FMA’s two thousand strong membership to IWFM’s community of seventeen thousand workplace and facilities professionals, already represented in eighty countries.

Under the five-year collaboration, partners will develop a number of joint initiatives to support the informal professional development of respective members while working towards more formal arrangements for sharing access to member benefits and services.

Cross collaboration will happen across a number of member services including access to certain exclusive content such as research and insight reports, training, conferences and other CPD activity; plus, a range of discounted offers. The arrangement also allows for the mutual recognition of membership credentials.  

A broader aim is to collaborate on activities to advance the profession’s development, internationally, including knowledge, research, innovation and benchmarking, embedding the Workplace and Facilities Management Professional Standards, ISO Standards, accreditation and assessment schemes and promotional activity.  

Announcing the move at his final AGM before stepping down as Chairman Stephen Roots said: "Our HQs may be half the world apart, but our networks are strong and our ambitions for global workplace and facilities management excellence are in exactly the same space." Adding, "This arrangement will work to our members’ mutual benefit and through that, for the good of our profession as a whole."

FMA Chairman, Kristiana Greenwood said: "This collaboration perfectly aligns the values and strategic goals of both associations and with today’s technology, distance is irrelevant. I am very excited about the opportunities this will offer to our broader membership and look forward to demonstrating the tangible benefits to members through the development of the annual action plan."

The arrangement will be underpinned and reviewed by an annual action plan. The first joint initiative under the scheme will be announced in due course.